Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-04-20

this sacriIege. They are as genial as angels at
the society room an as ugly as sin at home
They are generous on all subjects of wine sup
pers yachts and fast horses, but they ar
stingy about the wives dresses and the chill
dren's shoes That man has made that, which
might be healthful influence, usurper Of his
affections and he has m rried 1t, a.d he rs
Inc Wife whatever her features, becomes nm
interesting and homely. He becomes critical
of her does not like the dress, does not like
the way she arranges her hair, Is amazed that
he ever was so unromantc as to offer her hand
and heart. There are secret societies where
membership always involves domestic ship
wreck Tell me that a man has Joined Ger.
tain kind and tell me nothing more about him
for ten years. and will write his history If h.
be still alive. The man is wine guzzler, his
wife broken hearted or prematurely oil l. his
fortune gone or reduced, and his home mere
name in directory. Here are TX secular
nights in the week. CIV hat shall do with
them?n says the father and the husband. II
will give four of these nights to the improve
ment and entertainment of my family. either
at homo or in good neighborhood. will de
vote one to charitable Institutions. will de
vote one to my lodge"
congratulate you. Here is man who says,
"Out of the six secular nights of he week l
will devote five to lodges and clubs and assoc-
atoms and one to the home, " hicn night Will
spend In scowling like March squalI wishing
I was out spending it as have spent the other
five." That mans obituary Is written. MOI
one out OF ten thousand that ever gets so far on
he wrong road ever stops. Gradually his
health will fail through late hours, and through
TOO much stimuants he will be first rate prey
for erysipelas and rheumatism of the heart
he doctor coming in will at glance see 1t is
not ouiy present disease he must fight but
years of fast living. The clergyman for the
sake of the feelings of the family on the funer-
Al day will only talk in religious generalities.
The men who got his yacht in the eternal
rapids will not be at the obsequies. They have
pressing engagements that day They will
TO utter words of sv mpathy, but they will have
engagements elsewhere. They never come
Bring me mallet and chisei, and will cut on
| tombstone that 6DitaDl
are the dead who die in the Lord" NO" you
say. that would not be appropriate" ''Let me
end be like his" IN =" you say, that would
not be appropriate" Then give me the mallet
and the chisel. and will cut an honest eptaph:
Here lies the victim of dissipating associa-
tions!'
Another test by which you can find whether
your secret society is right or wrong is the eff
understand how through such an institution
man can reach commercial success. l know
ONE men have formed their best business re-
tations through such a channel If the secret
society has advantaged you in an honorable
calling 1t is good one. But has your credit
tailed? Are bargain-makers more anxious how
they trust you with bale of goods? Have the
men whose names were down in the CONNER
eial agency A l. before they entered the society
been going down since in commercial stand
ing? Then look out. You aud l every day
know o commercial establishments going to
ruin through the social excuses of one or swo
members. their fortune beaten to death with
hall players bat cut amidships with the
front Prov of the regatta, Or going down under
the swift hOofs OF the fast horses, or drowned in
The large rotations of cognac or MonoDgaheia.
That secret society was the Loeb Earn. Their
business was the v lie de Havre. They struck
and the Vile de Eavre went under!
The third test by which you may know
whether the society TO which you belong is
good or bad is this: What is it's effect on y ur
sense of moral and religious obligation? Now,
If | should take the names of AL the people in
his audience this morning and put them on
foll and then | should lay that roll back of
and a hundred
one should take that roll and call it from, to
there would not one of you answer. l say
at any society that makes me forget that fac
is a bad society. When l go to Chicago l am
-ometimes perpleXed at Buffalo, as l suppose
many travellers are, as to whether it is better
to take the Lake Shore route or the Michigan
tral, equally expeditions and equally safe,
getting 70 their destination at the same time
But suppose that hear that on one route the
track is torn up, the bridges down and the
switches are unlocked, it will not take me q
great while to decide which road to take Now,
uere are two roads in the future-the Christian
and the unchris'ian, the safe and the unsafe
Any institution or any association that con.
fuses my ideas in regard TO that fact Is a bad
institution and bad association. l mad pray
ers before L Joined that society; did l have
them afterward? attended the house of God
before connected myself with that union; do
absent myself from religious influences p
Which would you rather have in your hand
when you come to die-a pack of cards or
Bible?' Which would you ra' her have pressed
to your lips in the closing moment-the cup of
BelshsZzarean wassail or the chalioe OF Chris
tian communion? Who would you rat her have
Tor your pail bearers-the elders of a Christian
church or the companions whose conversation
was full of slang and innuendo? Who would
you rather have for your eternal companions
those men who spend their evenings betting,
gambling. swearing, carousing and telling vile
stories, or your little child that bright girl
whom the Lord took? Oh. you would not have
been Tway SO much nights, would you If you
had known she was going away so soon? Dear
me, your house has never been the same place
since. Your wife has never frightened up, she
var 10 will rnf
it, How long the evenings are with no one to
put to bed. and no one to whom to tell the
beautiful Bible stories?
What a pity IL is that you cannot spend more
evenings at home in trying to help her bear
that sorrow. You can never drown that grief
in the wine cup. You car never break away
from the little arms that used to be flung
around your neck when she used to say: Papa,
do stay with me Tonight. Do stay With me
tonight" You will never be able to wipe away
from your lips the dying kiss Of your llttle girl.
The fascination ola bad secret society is SO
great that sometimes man has turned his
back on his home when his child was dying of
scarf ct fever. He went away. Before he got
back at midnight the eyes had been closed.
the undertaken had done his work and the wife,
worn out with three weeks watching, lay I'M
conscious in the next room. Then the return
ed father comes upstairs, and he sees the cradle
gone and The windows up, and says: "What is
The matter?" On the Judgment Day he will
find out what was the matter.
on man astray, God help you! am going 10
make very stout rope. You know that some
times rope maker Will take very small
threads and wind them together until after a
while they become ship cable. Aud 1 am go
ing to take some very small. delicate threads
and wind them together until they make a
very stout rope. l will take all the mem cries
of the marriage oday-a thread of laughter, a
thread OF light, thread of music. a thread OF
banquetiDg. thread of congrat ulatiOn, and
twist them together and l have one strand
Then take thread of the hour 0{ the first
advent in your house, thread of the darkness
that preceded, and a thread of the light that
followed; and thread CT the beautiful scarf
that little child used to wear when she bound
ed out at eventide to greet you; and then a
thread of the beautiful dress Ia which you laid
her away for the resurrection; and then Twist
all these threads together, and have another
strand. Then take thread Of the scarlet robe
OF a suffering Christ aGd a thread Of the white
raiment of your loved ones before the throne.
and a string of the harp seraphic and / twist
them all together, and have third strand
"O,'' you sly. "eiJher strand is enough to hold
fast a world - No; will take these strands
and will twist them together and one end OF
that rope will fasteu not to the communion
table. for it shall be removed; not to pillar OF
the organ, for that will crumbie in the ages;
but wind it, round and round the cross of
sympathising Christ, aud. having fastened one
end of the rope to the cross. throw the other
end to you. Law hold OF IT.! Pull for your life
Pull for heaven